Windfall Island
by Tyger and Darkdracofire
Summary: /KH-LoZ:WW fusion AU/ "Huh," said the bird. Roxas kept sleeping, oblivious. "...am I supposed to peck his eyes out, or something?" It thought for a moment. "No, wait, that's ravens."


For IJ's roads_diverged; either theme #25, big city, or #26, small town. If you've played _The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker_, you'll understand my confusion.

~Windfall Island~

What sort of boat didn't have a _sail_, Roxas grumbled, making his way up the beach. And if he couldn't sail without one, how had Red XIII been following him from the Forsaken Fortress, anyway?

Something fishy was going on, he was sure. But then again, that's the way his life had been, ever since his birthday... what. Two or three days ago? Time was kind of hard to tell. But really. First Naminé got herself kidnapped by a giant bird, then he was told he has to go and _rescue_ her, and then he got _shot out of a barrel by pirates_ and had to sneak around a castle full of monsters, and _then_ he got captured by the same giant bird and thrown out into the ocean! Only to be woken up by a talking boat without a sail!

Roxas was pretty sure he hated being eight.

The sun was out, on this island, at least. He had no idea where he was - it wasn't at all like Outset, and he hadn't travelled anywhere before. But the sun and the sky were the same, and there was a nice hill just over there, bright green with grass, and he thought, screw this, I'm taking a nap. So he did.

After some time, a bird flew over, and landed on his chest. It peered at Roxas with its left eye, and shuffled a little.

"Huh," said the bird. Roxas kept sleeping, oblivious. It shuffled a little more, and looked at him out of its right eye, this time. "...am I supposed to peck his eyes out, or something?" It thought for a moment. "No, wait, that's ravens. Hmm."

All the shuffling and talking and getting into his sunlight seemed to finally be rousing Roxas, however, and he opened his eyes a little.

"Buzah?" he said, not quite comprehending.

"Hi!" said the bird, and grinned, as much as birds can grin. Roxas stared, for a moment, then yelled, and threw himself backwards, away from the creature.

The bird, being a bird, just threw itself into the air to avoid the flailing, and came to rest on a nearby rock. Thinking perhaps the world might make more sense from another angle, it tilted its head to the side almost ninety degrees.

"You all right there?" it asked. Roxas stared at it, for a long moment.

"Hi," it said, "I'm Axel, got it memorised?"

"...you're a bird," said Roxas, still not sure how it could be talking to him. Then again, with the way the past few days had been going...

"I'm a _seagull_," said Axel. Roxas scowled at him.

"Don't be stupid," he said. "Seagulls are _white._" He knew a lot about seagulls. They tended to like hanging out in his tower, back home, so he'd seen heaps of them. And they were _white_, not _red_. And they had black eyes, not green.

Axel scowled at him. "I'm not _normally_ a seagull."

"...right," said Roxas. Sure.

"Anyway," said Axel, before he could ask about it, "where are we going?"

"...what," said Roxas. Oh, no. He wasn't going to be saddled with some other stupid quest, or whatever. Saving Naminé was bad enough!

He got up, and started walking across to the town. Predictably, the bird flew after him, but he ignored him, so Axel landed on a tree a few steps away, and _grinned_.

"Why are you following me," Roxas said.

"You're a hero, right?" said Axel. Roxas didn't reply - he'd've liked to say no, he wasn't, but he _was_ trying to rescue Naminé, which was sort of what a hero would do.

"I've been here a while," said Axel, "You're not one of the locals. You're too young to be a fisherman, you're not dressed pretty enough to be a rich kid on holidays, and pirates travel in groups. Thus! Hero." Roxas had no idea what 'thus' meant, but he could guess.

"So," said Axel, when he didn't say a word yet again, "where are we going?"

Roxas looked at him askance, then sighed. No getting rid of this one, he could tell. If for no other reason than he could fly, and so even follow him across the seas.

"I need to find a sail," he said. Axel looked at him from the other side of his head.

"...you don't have a sail?" Well, no. He'd only just been recruited by the boat, after all. "That's kinda pathetic." Which was really kind of true, he knew. Axel shuffled along the branch, a little, and asked, "do you even know how to sail?"

"...no," said Roxas. They didn't have much use for boats, on Outset. Axel looked at him very sceptically. "My boat can talk," he added, as Axel very pointedly Said Nothing, "so I don't think I'll drown." He could swim, too, if it came to that. And he was the best of the kids at catching fish bare-handed.

"...so where are we going, with your talking boat," asked Axel, eventually.

Roxas... wasn't actually sure, about that. Not straight back to the Forsaken Fortress, he was sure. Red XIII probably knew, and would tell him after he got the sail.

"Oh, come on," said Axel, bobbing up and down a bit in frustration, "you're a hero, you must have a _quest_." Well. True. That much, he did know.

"I'm going to save my sister from Xehanort at the Forsaken Fortress," he said after a moment.

Axel stared at him, and Roxas walked past his tree, into the town. Axel stayed a moment longer, before muttering to himself, "well, he's got guts, if nothing else," and followed.


End file.
